Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton (1993)

Reader's Annotation

Vampire hunter Anita Blake is hired to find out who has been murdering innocent vampires.

Summary

Anita Blake lives in Saint Louis, Missouri, but it's not exactly our Saint Louis. In Anita's world, magic, vampires, werewolves, and the like are and have always been "out of the closet."  Anita is an animator with the ability to raise and lay to rest zombies. She also works as a vampire executioner; however, in her world, vampires have rights just like anyone else. That means she needs a court order to kill one.

At the story's open, Jean-Claude, master vampire and proprietor of the vampire strip-club Guilty Pleasures, tries to hire Anita to investigate a recent string of vampire murders—the vampires were the victims NOT the perpetrators—but Anita isn't interested; she doesn't like vampires and would much rather be killing them. Jean-Claude, who literally cannot take no for an answer, must blackmail her into taking the job.

Anita finds herself working for Nikolaos, the master vampire of the city. She is a thousand years old, very powerful, and looks like a prepubescent girl. She is not a good boss.

In the curse of her investigation, Anita befriends Philip, a human vampire junkie who strips at Guilty Pleasures. When Nikolaos' minions torture and kill Phillip then bring him back as a zombie, Anita vows to bring Nikolaos down.

By story's end, Anita has not only stopped the vampire killer but also, with Jean-Claude's aid, destroyed Nikolaos, leaving Jean-Claude master vampire of the city.

Evaluation

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick fun read. The writing and plot have a bit of the clunkiness of a first novel but I'd definitely read another. The world of the novel goes beyond just vampires and seems to have the potential to grow into something rich and complex as the series progresses. And I expect to see Anita Blake's relationship with Jean-Claude grow into something more as well. The tone of the writing is hard-boiled with a fair bit of violence, blood, and sex.

If you like this book, you should try Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series and Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery/Crime
Subgenres: Urban Fantasy, Vampire Romance, Paranormal Romance

The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Reader's Annotation

A madman kidnaps Jane Eyre from the pages of Charlotte Brontë's famous novel.

Summary

In Great Britain circa 1985, time travel is routine, and even travel into works of literature is possible. If you enter the world of a book, you can change it—but only for that one copy. However, if you enter the original manuscript, any change will affect every subsequent copy of that work. Naturally there are laws against that sort of thing, and it's the job of Thursday Next, Special Operative in literary detection, to enforce them. When a madman kidnaps Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday faces the challenge of her career. With the help of her time-traveling father, an executive of the all-powerful Goliath Corporation, and Edward Rochester himself, Thursday must track down the criminal and enter the novel herself to avert an act of literary homicide.

Evaluation

This was a fun and silly novel. I loved all the literary references, the funny names, and the made-up words. It may be a little hard to suspend disbelief for such a silly conceit as traveling into the pages of a novel, but The Eyre Affair is not meant to be taken seriously. If you liked this book, try the rest of Fforde's Thursday Next series or perhaps one his other series such as Nursery Crimes Division or Shades of Grey.

For even more silly British humour in the vein of the Thursday Next series, try the works of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and P.G. Wodehouse.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Subgenres:

Halfway to the Grave

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (2007)

Reader's Annotation

Half-vampire Cat hunts vampires hoping one day to kill the one that fathered her.

Summary

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield hunts vampires—any vampires. They're all evil, according to her mother—especially the one that raped her and fathered Cat! Then one day, Cat tries to kill a vampire so old and experienced that she might just as well have been a kitten. But the ancient vampire—Bones is his name—doesn't kill her. Instead he agrees to train her in the art of vampire killing, IF she will agree to kill only evil vampires—the ones he says are evil. Soon she is ready, and together they begin to hunt. As she and Bones fight side by side, Cat begins to think that Bones may not be so evil after all—she may even have feelings for him! But as Cat's feelings for Bones' grow, she worries that her mother will never understand.

Evaluation

I enjoyed this one and intend to try more in the series. The characters are likable—especially Bones—and the action is fun and suspenseful. The world seems likely to develop a richness as the series progresses—ghosts have already been added into the mix. The book does have a good bit of sex and violence including vampiric blood exchange but the descriptions of vampiric sex are brief and don't become tedious as they do in some other vampire romances—at least for my tastes.

If you like this book, you should try Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery/Crime
Subgenres: Urban Fantasy, Vampire Romance

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman (1973)

Reader's Annotation

A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts.

Summary

In the country of Florin lives a beautiful girl named Buttercup. She delights in ordering about their farmhand, a boy named Westley, whom she simply calls Farmboy. His only response is to say, "As you wish." When Buttercup realizes she loves Westley, he leaves to seek his fortune so that they may marry.

Time passes. Buttercup learns that Westley has died at the hands of the Dread Pirate Roberts and now she will be forced to wed Prince Humperdinck, heir to the throne of Florin.

Before the wedding, Prince Humperdink, who clearly doesn't love Buttercup, hires a trio of outlaws to kidnap her to give him an excuse to start a war with Guilder. These three outlaws are Inigo Montoya, a Spanish fencing wizard; Fezzik, a giant Turkish wrestler; and their leader Vizzini, the evil Sicilian mastermind.

A mysterious man in black appears and defeats the three men, leaving Vizzini dead but gaining the respect of Inigo and Fezzik. Buttercup flees with the man in black, who turns out to be Westley, now owner of the Dread Pirate Roberts franchise.

After a harrowing journey through the Fire Swamp, Westley and Buttercup are captured by Prince Humperdinck and his six-fingered henchman, Count Tyrone Rugen. Buttercup agrees to marry Humperdinck if he will release Westley. Humperdinck agrees but orders Count Rugen to take Westley to the Zoo of Death for torture anyway.

Meanwhile, Inigo and Fezzik have learned that Count Rugen is the six-fingered nobleman who killed Inigo's father and upon whom Inigo has sworn vengeance. They rescue Westley from the Zoo of Death so that he can help them plan their assault on Humperdinck's castle.

On the day of the wedding, the three invade the castle. Inigo Montoya takes his revenge on Count Rugen, the man who killed his father, while Westley stops the wedding in the nick of time and rescues Buttercup.

Evaluation

The presentation of this novel is very unusual. Its framing material presents it as an abridgement of a novel by S. Morgenstern that Goldman's father read to him when he was sick. It was, however, written entirely by William Goldman. The story is a humorous fantasy adventure with  fairy tale elements. It's mostly good silly fun but the subplot in which Inigo Montoya seeks revenge for the death of his father is treated more seriously than the rest of the book and is my favorite part. To me, the story of Inigo Montoya is the true heart of the novel. The story of Westley and Buttercup is bland and uninteresting in comparison.

If you enjoyed the novel's humorous fantasy elements, you should try one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. If, on the other hand, you preferred the Inigo Montoya subplot, you might try a swashbuckling tale of revenge like The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas or Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini.

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Subgenres: 

Wild Ride

Wild Ride by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (2011)

Reader's Annotation

Restoring the Dreamland Amusement Park is a dream come true for Mab, but FunFun the Clown is NOT what she expected.

Summary

The Dreamland Amusement Park is not like any park Mary Alice Brannigan (Mab for short) has restored before. Turns out it's actually the prison of five ancient demons known as The Untouchables. Mab doesn't know this yet and, while putting the finishing touches on the statue of FunFun the Clown, she accidentally releases the first of the demons, the trickster Fufluns. Mab soon discovers that Fufluns isn't so bad as demon gods go and actually makes a pretty good boyfriend. Unfortunately not all the ancient demons are as easy-going as Fufluns and soon more have escaped confinement. As Halloween fast approaches, Mab and her friends must return the demons to their confinement before the evil demon boss god Kharos gains his freedom, initiating the apocalypse.

Evaluation

This novel was good frothy fun if a bit slight. The amusement park was a fun backdrop for an urban fantasy novel. The Romance aspect of the novel kept me guessing a bit. Would Mab wind up with the hunky Army Ranger? Nope, turns out he's her half-brother by the demon god Kharos. What about the trickster Fufluns? Nope, he has to go back into confinement, though he does get her pregnant. Turns out that the Homeland Security agent who's been in the background for most of the novel is crazy about her, even if she is carrying a demon spawn. I thought it was interesting that Jennifer Crusie wrote the chapters that are from Mab's point of view and Bob Mayer wrote those from the Army Ranger's point of view. (I guess you can tell which point of view I enjoyed more.)

If you really liked this novel, you should try the other collaborations between Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer; Agnes and the Hitman sounds pretty fun. But if you particularly enjoyed the humorous urban fantasy aspect, you must try Christopher Moore. In my opinion, his urban fantasies are funnier and better written, and many even include a bit of romance.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Subgenres: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance